Happy birthday to all riders who celebrate in April. Happy birthday to IHR members Chuck Brassfield in Los Gatos and Tim Young in Santa Cruz. Happy birthday to Stephen Tahija in Manteca, to Jani Albers in Woodland and to Dan DeLeuw, Leoni Watts and Steve Roi in San Jose. Happy birthday to Bob Dubois in Vacaville, to Clete Wanner in Sacramento, to Debbie McGinnis in ABATE Local 17 and to Craig Reynolds in Iron Steed H.O.G. Happy birthday to Laury Chimerofsky in Modesto H.O.G., to Enoch “Nick” Holland in Salem, Oregon, and to Bob Dell in San Ramon. Happy birthday to celebrity riders Ann-Margaret, Jay Leno and Jesse James… Steven R. Edon, October 26, 1951–December 22, 2014. The day you are born and the day you die are but dates on a calendar. It is the dash between those dates that is the essence of who you are. I first met Steve in December 2004 at his shop, Fog Cycles, in Dixon. Steve and Mike Bratton were partners who took a lot of pride in their work. They started in a garage before getting a shop, and they built custom bikes. Their first bike took second in its class the first time they showed it. Steve was a stand-up guy with a lot of friends. He was very active in ABATE Local 17, and when he died, over 200 people attended his memorial service. He will be sorely missed… If or when you catch yourself going sideways and you need someone to get your back, you will never find a better back-getter than a fellow biker. The truth is, we all need the help of our friends from time to time. Garry Copeland is a long-time biker, and he has multitudes of loyal friends ready to get his back. As soon as they knew that Garry needed a little help, his friends got together. Donnie and Janice, David, Larry, Tim, Tony, Bob, Steve, Gino, Manny, Craig, Jeff, Josh, John and Roy met every Thursday for about two months and organized a Benefit Poker Run for Garry. To give you some idea of how well thought of Garry is, over 200 people signed in and participated in the run. When I asked Garry what he thought about the turnout, he said, “It’s nice. I have seen people I haven’t seen in years.” In response to how long he and Larry Damon have been friends, Garry said, “Larry got his first bike from me. A lot of these guys got their first bikes from me. I’m responsible for a lot of these guys.” And with a chuckle he added, “I guess I’m a bad influence.” Later in the day, I talked with Larry about his first bike. He said that bike was built like the 1949–’73 Cadillac in Johnny Cash’s song, “One Piece at a Time.” He found a frame and assorted parts, and Garry built him an engine. He said, “That’s the way we did it in those days.” This was a really fun party. The food was yummy, and the band was toe-tapping good. This was The Charlie Wade Blues Band, and even though they said that they were aiming for the Chicago sound, I think they have a lot of Texas in them. What is the “Chicago sound” anyway? There was an abundance of raffle prizes, and these were top-of-the-line prizes. We are talking leather jackets, a 32″ flat-screen TV, really nice helmets, gift certificates for dinners, cases of “If You See Kay” wine from Napa, and much more. I thought it was interesting that Tina and Sean Feeney from Vacaville won three bottles of wine and a box of 45-caliber ammunition in the same drawing. Check this out: The 50/50 drawing was $750 to the winner. Glenn Phillips may be speechless for days. He called raffle numbers without a microphone for two hours…I certainly agree with Garry that it was exciting to see folks I haven’t seen in a while. At one of the poker stops, I saw Toni Marshall sitting with Sandy Rapolla. I had not seen Sandy in a couple of years. It was 2013 when Sandy, as founder and president of North County Riders MC, disbanded the club. But, of course, men who rode together for over 20 years remain close, and Sandy was very concerned about his comrade, Roy Carpender. Roy was in the ICU with a broken neck following a single-bike accident. It had been really foggy, but no one knows for sure what had caused him to go down. Sandy said that we won’t know what happened until Roy can tell us, and he can’t tell us yet. Well, we all send get-well wishes and good karma to Roy… Another get-well wish is for Rocky White from Fairfield. Rocky has been hospitalized in Napa, but they are sending him to Sacramento to undergo chemo and radiation for brain cancer. Rocky, I know it will be rough, but get well and come home soon.
